On April 23, the Governor of the state, Roberto Albores Guillén, presented the State Congress with the proposal for the Redistricting Law, which is an attempt to begin the creation of new municipalities. In its first phase, it would create seven municipalities: in San Andrés Duraznal, within the current jurisdiction of Simojovel; Santiago El Pinar, in San Andrés Larráinzar; Benemérito de las Americas and Zamora Pico de Oro, in Ocosingo; Monte Cristo de Guerrero, in Angel Albino Corzo; Aldama, in Chenalhó; and Maravilla Tenejapa, in Las Margaritas. The State Congress will hold a special session on the fourth of May in order to discuss this proposal. This initiative is not supported by the PAN or by the PRD, since they have noted a number of irregularities in its procedures. From my perspective, this proposal has two fundamental political objectives:

a). - It seeks to impede the zapatistas' political initiatives and to provide a counterweight to the Autonomous Municipalities, in order to undermine civil resistance.

b). - It attempts to strengthen and reorganize certain cacique power groups, as well as to recoup spaces lost by the PRI. By reviewing each of the locations where the new municipalities would be established, one can clearly see the strategy:

1. - San Andrés Duraznal (Simojovel): It seeks to strengthen the Labor Party (PT), because the PRI has lost influence in this municipality, and its members have been joining and re-aligning with that party. This community is where the PT originated and where it gathered strength. Today, most of its residents belong to the PT. At the same time, it also strengthens the Popular Campesino and Worker Organization of the State of Chiapas (OCOPECH). This organization - affiliated with the PT - was accused by the San Juan de la Libertad Autonomous Municipality - through letters and communiqués to the public - of playing the role of shock group and of strengthening local power groups. There were ambushes during that time period, for which the Autonomous Municipality held the OCOPECH responsible.

2. - Santiago El Pinar (San Andrés Larráinzar): Most of the residents in this community - where there is a Public Security Police Post - belong to the PRI. In 1997, the San Andrés Sacamch'en de Los Pobres Autonomous Municipality denounced that the "Red Mask" paramilitary group had one of its main centers of operation in that community.

There is no doubt whatsoever that the new municipality will strengthen the power group in that locale, in order to counter the political force of the Autonomous Municipality, whose seat is in the municipal seat. It has remained in the hands of the zapatistas since its recovery on April 8 (see Bulletin #151).

3. - Monte Cristo de Guerrero (Angel Albino Corzo): This community has been asking for the authorization of a new municipal seat for more than 20 years. Today, through the official words of justice being served, the PRI power group headed by the Alvarado families will finally see their objective met. This power group has for years been opposed to the power group that governs the municipal seat of Angel Albino Corzo, headed by the Orantes Clan, who have their main headquarters in the ejido of La Tigrilla. The "Emiliano Zapata" Campesino Organization (OCEZ) and the "Francisco Villa" Popular Campesino Organization have issued many denunciations to the effect that their main attackers have been the ranchers and landowners from La Tigrilla. Once again, the redistricting proposal strengthens the Montecristo power group and weakens the Orantes politically, because it is a traditional power group, whose power is based in an archaic structure of land ownership. Within the modernization program, these kinds of finqueros and ranchers are seen as obstacles. Within the redistricting program, some are strengthened, and others are weakened politically (A member of the Orantes was recently jailed and then released, accused by the alleged material author of being the intellectual author of the assassination of AEDPCh leader, Rubicel Ruiz Gamboa, on February 28, 1998.

4. - Maravilla Tenejapa (Las Margaritas): At the end of 1994 and in early 1995, the Non-Governmental Coordinator for Peace (CONPAZ) began receiving the first denunciations concerning the formation of alleged paramilitary groups in this community, even before they appeared in the Northern zone of Chiapas. This community is primarily inhabited by PRI members. There have been only 23 EZLN support base families, who were rounded up and expelled by the PRIs in February 1995. In this community, they are seeking to strengthen the PRI and to weaken the "Tierra y Libertad" Autonomous Municipality, whose seat is in Amparo Aguatinta. They are trying to recover political spaces in Maravilla Tenejapa that have been lost by the PRI, to channel funds and to weaken, not just the zapatistas, but also the work of Non-Governmental Organizations. Since the arrival of the Guatemalan refugees, these NGO's have been working with the Mexican and Guatemalan populations in the fields of education, health, human rights, appropriate technology, etcetera. Now that the majority of the Guatemalan refugees have returned, these groups have been increasing their work with the Mexican population.

5. - Aldama (Chenalhó): This is a community populated primarily by PRI members. It is from here that they wish to politically balance the Autonomous Municipality of Polhó. That is, control of the municipality can have the municipal seat as its midpoint, with the PRIs holding the opposing end and controlling the northern part of Chenalhó, since most of the government opposition (Las Abejas and the zapatistas) are at the other end, going down to Pantelhó.

6. - Zamora Pico de Oro and Benemérito de Las Americas (Ocosingo): During the administration of Chiapas governor, Juan Sabines Gutiérrez (1976-78), the "Juan Sabines Pérez" Union of Ejidos, active in the PRI, was founded and gathered strength. Although it was quite strong, it was not the only one active in the area. Other organizations existed, such as the "Salomón González Blanco," a truckers organization that tried to compete with the Union of Ejidos. During the 90's, other social organizations emerged which countered it, such as the Regional Independent Campesino Movement (MOCRI) and the Regional Union of Campesino Cooperatives of the Marqués de Comillas (URECCAM).

Today, in response to the progress made by other independent social organizations opposed to the government, the PRI is trying to recover the space it has lost in the region, giving power to and strengthening the "Julio Sabines Pérez" Union of Ejidos. The governor's initial proposal was for the creation of just one municipality in Benemérito de Las Americas. Today the proposal is for two municipalities, owing to internal conflicts in that region's Consultative Body.

The Consultative Body organized in that community - that attempted to win the sympathy and support of the population through economic programs - only benefited the communities close to Benemérito. Because of this, dissidents from Zamora Pico de Oro, without resigning from the PRI, established alliances prior to the elections with the MOCRI (with the wing tied to the Plan de Ayala National Coordinator - CNPA), in order to support the candidate of the Coalition of Autonomous Organizations of Ocosingo (COAO-PRD) and to weaken the PRI in the region. In response to the threat from 24 communities of withdrawing from the PRI and aligning themselves with the opposition, the government proposal arrived, making Zamora Pico de Oro another municipal seat within the redistricting program.

The political result was the division of the "Julio Sabines Pérez" Union of Ejidos, with a "Triple SSS" breaking off, which is now seeking to form a new municipal seat in the Rio Salinas community. The division between the MOCRI-CNPA and the MOCRI-Independent Wing worsened. Nonetheless, the URECAM, the MOCRI and the PRD were not able to coordinate with each other, nor to provide a political counterweight to the official proposal, which reveals their weakness in the region.

There is no doubt whatsoever that the redistricting program has several flaws which need to be looked at carefully, to be analyzed, investigated and understood as a tactic in the political-military war. With just a cursory examination, one can see that it is an attempt to achieve the recovery of those spaces lost by the PRI. It is an attempt to strengthen regional caciques and those shock groups that counter the opposition and local power groups who do not agree with the current government. It is putting conditions in place that will be favorable for the PRI in the next gubernatorial and presidential elections in 2000. It aims to take away political initiatives from the EZLN and to weaken the Autonomous Municipalities. It is geared towards politically encircling the zapatistas and delegitimizing the demand for the carrying out of the San Andrés Accords (which posit putting in place a redistricting program, but by mutual agreement of the parties, the EZLN and the government). It is an attempt to break up the zapatista lands, and, consequently, undermine civil resistance. It will provoke clashes and internal divisions within the social organizations. It attempts to mitigate the zapatista reaction by proposing a program that does not directly affect the heart of their lands, but rather in the badly named conflict zone.

Following Redistricting

Insofar as the government is able to mitigate the results of redistricting - and whether or not there is a response from the zapatistas - one will be able to calculate whether or not the program has a future and is viable within the Selva Lacandona. This is the reasoning behind its being projected only in the periphery of the zapatista zone of influence. The rapidity with which the EZLN support bases re-took the municipal presidency in San Andrés Larráinzar makes sense within this context.

Another factor that could be behind the redistricting is that, if the logic is to support the shock groups and to strengthen the PRI, it is not convenient for the government - or for the PRI, as a state apparatus - to have their bases armed. In this way they will not repeat the Colombian paramilitary experience, nor allow the refrain to come true that "raise crows and they will pluck out your eyes." Because armed paramilitaries, with economic resources, controlling strategic regions and territories, would acquire an enormous power, to such a degree that they would be out of the government's control and would become their opponents. This is why I believe that the alleged paramilitaries in Chiapas, although they have power and are tolerated, are still not out of control.

The tendency, then, will be to strengthen them as opposition groups to the sectors who demand the democratization of the country, but with certain limitations, and, as has been seen, to control lands through PRI municipal presidencies. This is what is currently taking place in Tila, Sabanilla, Tumbalá, Chenalhó, and to a certain extent, in Salto de Agua. If the proposal goes further, then redistricting will also tend to advance into the regions with a paramilitary presence and where the zapatistas are. New municipal seats would be established in those places important to the alleged paramilitaries. In this case, they would be in: Los Moyos (in Sabanilla); El Limar (in Tila); Emiliano Zapata (in Tumbalá); Los Plátanos (in El Bosque); San Gerónimo Bachajón and San Gerónimo Tulijá (in Chilón); Lacanjá Chanzayab (Ocosingo); Venustiano Carranza (in Altamirano), and so on. It is here that the Redistricting and the Amnesty and Disarmament of Civilian Groups in the State of Chiapas Laws would converge, because it would then be possible to legitimize the alleged paramilitaries, integrating them as municipal or rural police at the service of the new municipal seats.

The Other Power

Certainly the exercise of municipal power will continue to be a problem. While it is true that redistricting is necessary, it must be real and effective, a proposal for the resolution of the indigenous' lack of integration into the exercise of municipal government. It should be carried out within the framework of the global fulfillment of the San Andrés Accords, if not, it will only strengthen one of the parties, in this case, the government.

The exercise of municipal power will not be resolved by the current redistricting proposal, since what is required is the creation and carrying out of a series of conditions. Some that we can mention would include:

• Respect for the popular vote.
• Respect for the forms of social organization, in accordance with uses, customs and traditions.
• The holding of clean and transparent elections.
• The bodies in charge of holding and overseeing the elections should no longer be judge and party of the electoral process.
• A profound restructuring of the electoral bodies should be carried out.
• Those leading the electoral bodies should be a fount of absolute credibility and moral authority. They should be chosen by society, and not by the government.
• The Precincts and the restructuring of the Precincts for the election rolls and polling places should be done according to regional geographic conditions.
• The assignment of economic resources to all the parties and candidates running for electoral office should be done on an equal basis.
• Equality in the spaces of the media, electronic, print and satellite.
• Allow other means for the designation of authorities, allowing independent candidates, coalitions of organizations, organizational alliances, and so on.
• In municipalities with an indigenous majority, respect traditional forms of popular election: plebiscite, referendum, community assemblies, in accordance with the moral values and good customs in the community.

If what is needed for good democratic exercise is not put in place, and official imposition continues - through more redistricting programs, photo-credentialing, calls for dialogue, purchases of conscience, conditioned credits, granting of benefits, election fraud and speeches empty of content - the tendency will be for the municipal problems to continue and to multiply. This has happened recently, and has yet to be resolved, in San Andrés Larráinzar, Chanal, San Juan Chamula, Nicolás Ruiz, Oxchuc, and other places.

As the electoral process of 2000 approaches, there will be reaccomodations within local power groups, seeking alliances with sectors that will lend them strength in the search for their objectives. However, takeovers of municipal presidencies should not be discarded as a mechanism of response to the irregularities and imposition of the official system.

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